Insights

In the time since the Federal Reserve Board brought the target fed funds
rate to 0.00 - 0.25 percent, there has been more volatility and
opportunity in the two-year Treasury note than short Treasury bills.

No, the title to this commentary is not a typo. On March 22, the Treasury announced it would sell its mortgage holdings, plunking a cool $10 billion of the securities back into the market on a monthly basis until its entire $142 billion of holdings have been depleted. On the other side of this transaction, the Treasury will do… nothing.

In the last few months, we
have had governments overthrown, devastating earthquakes, the U.S. has entered
its third armed conflict, and some countries are on the verge of bankruptcy. In
addition, the U.S. economy is struggling along and has yet to produce enough
jobs to the unemployed.

Thus far, the
government's attempts to jump over the drama of the current recession have had
less than spectacular results. To be sure, the American drive is alive and well,
but we've hit more than a bump in the road and now everyone is scrambling for
answers.

The yen's surge
in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami may have seemed counter-intuitive at
first glance, but it reflected, in part, market speculation that Japanese firms
and the Japanese government will repatriate money now invested overseas in order
to pay insurance claims and the cost of rebuilding.

China's new offshore currency (CNH) affords you new opportunities as you do business overseas. Learn about how offshore CNH will ultimately enable two-way foreign exchange conversions for ongoing, Hong Kong-only based transactions, and will not be subject to current onshore (CNY)-based restrictions ...

In fact, one of the many fallacies being exposed today about the
financial world is the activity, duty and purpose of the ratings
agencies. Contrary to what many believe, ratings are not handed down
from a power on high, implying that a triple-A investment can never go
wrong...